If you are 50 or older and beginning a professional or managerial job search, you face definite challenges. Knowing some facts will help you understand these challenges and put them in perspective, help you cope with the unique situation seniors confront in a job search or career change, and assist you in moving forward.
Background
The number of professionals and managers thrust into a job search after the age of 50 is significant and growing. It is a phenomenon almost unheard of just two decades ago in American working society, but a growing reality in today’s world. Mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, off-shoring, reorganization, centralization, change of ownership, and all the politically correct terms from “down-sizing” to “right-sizing” have had a devastating affect on the senior (experienced) ranks of American business.
The days of “get-your-degree, put-on-a-tie, do-your-job, and 40 years later here’s your pension” are long gone. They actually began disappearing in the merger craze fueled by junk bonds and short-term stock profit demands in the early 1980’s. The trend has continued, accelerated and intensified. If you are 50, or 55, or 60, and all of a sudden find yourself “on the street” – for whatever reason – you’re in good company. And the ranks of your brothers and sisters in a similar situation are growing right along with you.
That’s not much solice in your individual case, although misery loves company and it’s reassuring to know you’re not alone and being singled out. So what do you do? I suggest the best medicine is to understand some cold, hard facts, and then figure out how to most effectively cope and move forward.
[While our firm focuses on assistance to clients in professional and managerial career search in the Treasure Valley of Idaho – anchored by Boise – the following Facts and Coping Tips apply virtually anywhere in the U.S.]
The Facts
- If you’re over 50, your professional search is going to take time. More time than when you were 25 or 40. If you’re over 60, add another notch. My partner, Rich, has a perfect analogy. If you’re out of shape and go to the gym and faithfully work out, it will take more time to achieve results when you’re 55 than it did when you were 35. Simple fact, and the truth. So accept it.
- In the professional career business, there are a couple of dynamics related to age we call “specificity” and “selectivity”. Briefly, this means the more senior you are, the more specific your experience is in any skill area, and fewer jobs exist at your experience and salary level. Both of these factors are working against you in the job market, and will add to the time frame in your job search.
- The economy (local job market) and your particular area of professional expertise have a large influence on your job search. Every area of this country has fluctuating needs that are influenced both by the local economy as well as specific job needs and demands. Larger job markets - typically larger metropolitan areas – tend to be more resilient concerning economy because they aren’t heavily impacted by a single, or few, employers. The same holds true for specific job experience and areas of expertise.
So you must consider what is happening in your geographic area in the overall business/industry atmosphere, and what impact that has on your field of experience or expertise. For example, Idaho in general, and Boise in particular, have been touted as a booming, healthy economy with incredible job growth (see US Today, Sept. 27, 2007). The fact is the majority of job growth in Boise has been in the support sectors, and wages are below national average.
Clearly, in your professional or managerial job search, you need to consider not only “what do I want to do”, but also “can I do it where I want to live?” - “Traditional” job search methods, for the vast majority of seniors, do not work. Whether you have moved through several organizations in your career, or have just “hit the street” after 20 years with the same company, the traditional “search-apply-interview” approach simply does not work today. Not at the senior professional/managerial level. At PCS, we have found that people hire who they know and like, or someone who has been referred to them by someone they know and trust.
The adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is alive and well, and especially true for seniors. We all have to use the internet in our search, as well as any other conventional means, and there are certainly great opportunities there. But for the majority of us, it’s the network, the individual human connections, that will produce results.
Coping with the Situation
- First and foremost, it’s important – no, critical – that you realize and accept that you are not broken, incompetent, or have failed. There is no need for excuses or wound-licking here. For whatever reason you are in a search mode now, please take ownership of your experiences, your contributions, and your skill sets.
You are in good company (although they may be your competition). Know that you have not been singled out. Your current situation is just a reality of today’s business world. - Think about your successes. If you’re a “senior”, you’ve been around for a while. You’ve done a lot and accomplished a lot. A lot! In fact, at PCS we start individual programs by focusing on this, and it most often has tremendous positive value. Especially after months of “no response” applications. It’s very reaffirming to reflect on actual, solid achievements.
- Do not stay isolated. Sure, use some time to perhaps enjoy yourself and your family, but make contacts and actively network. That may seem to be an overworked term, but it is absolutely invaluable in your new reality. Remember, “people hire who they know and like”. Well, that’s the result of networking. We call it the “GFR Process” – Generating Friends and Resources.
- Realize the dynamics of professional and managerial career search have changed dramatically since you and I began our original quest a few decades ago. Loyalty has become a fluid term (on both sides) and the security and stability of a company has evaporated. Change is inevitable, and happening ever more rapidly.
For your personal career considerations, and search, consider this wise observation from Rich:
“Stability is not a company, it’s an activity.”
Conclusion
Yes, there is life and hope for us seniors who are job searching. But in reality, we face some unique challenges. To move positively forward, we need to know and accept some hard facts, and then utilize coping mechanisms. Today’s working reality requires a paradigm shift for most of us. So think about it, embrace it, and then use it.